Synergistic Effect of Phase Transformation and Stress-Induced Twinning on the Antibacterial Property and Elastic Modulus of Ti-13Nb-13Zr-7Ag

Ti-13Nb-13Zr-7Ag (TNZ-7Ag) has a great potential for biomedical application due to its low elastic modulus and excellent antibacterial properties. However, it is difficult to balance low elastic modulus and high antibacterial properties. In this study, the TNZ-7Ag was treated by a pre-deformation and aging treatment to avoid this problem. The results proved that the stress-induced twinning caused a large range of Ti2Ag particle agglomeration, and in turn enhanced the antibacterial performance of Ag-containing titanium alloys. And the twinned martensite formed during the pre-deformation promoted the precipitation of Ti2Ag phase and inhibited the growth of α phase. As a result, TNZ-7Ag with both low elastic modulus and strong antibacterial properties was obtained by the treatments. All results demonstrated that pre-deformation based on the synergistic effect of aging treatment was an effective strategy to develop novel biomedical titanium alloys. Low-elastic-modulus antibacterial titanium alloys, which can be used for the development of novel biomedical titanium alloys, were prepared.